Most would consider the eighth game the halfway point of a sixteen game season. Those people are what I refer to as math-dependent. The Bears have played seven games and now must wait fifteen days before playing again as they lick their injury wounds. Hell, the team is off this entire week. If ever there was a line of demarcation signally HALFWAY, this is it.

So what follows are responses to the first half, thoughts on the second half and the normal awards, predictions and general folly that have filled this space lo these eight years. You’re not going to see everything below but you’ll see the things on my mind. I’ll leave it to you from there.

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Enough With the 2014 Draft Stuff…

We say it here all the time but NFL fans are guaranteed sixteen games a season. That’s all. And I will never understand these fans that seemingly can’t wait to give up on a current season and plan for the next. It won’t be happening here.

This is all supposed to be fun, folks. We’re supposed to enjoy the games. And even though a team is injury-riddled and more than likely not a title contender doesn’t means the remaining 9 contests should be ignored. Some of my favorite modern Bears games were played when the team was completely out of it! Adewale Ogunleye’s safety against the Titans in overtime, 2004. Edinger knocks the Lions out of the playoffs in 2000.

The Bears have a tough road coming but they still have a road. And I’m going along for the ride.

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The Bears offense has emerged as one of the best in football in only seven weeks. Seven weeks was all it took to seemingly erase a decade of offensive futility. Yesterday it took a devastating injury to the starting quarterback  for that fact to become apparent. As Josh McCown stepped into a high-pressure, low-probability scenario, Bears head coach Marc Trestman dialed up smart play after smart play. He put the football in the hands of his Emery-assembled weapons and they rewarded him with a near-flawless second half. For Jay Cutler’s tenure in Chicago, an injury to the lead signal caller meant an offensive implosion and consistently dreary output. Yesterday they rallied – on the field and on the sideline.

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In newsrooms and men’s rooms and conference rooms around Chicagoland conclusions have been reached following the Bears 27-21 victory over the New York Giants. The Bears can’t play defense anymore. Dave Toub’s exodus to Kansas City has left the special teams units in shambles. The offense can’t put together four successive quarters. There are no question marks at the end of the diehard sports fan sentences. These are facts and they are indisputable.

Except they’re not.

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